ZTE and Telefonica partner on 5G

23 June 2016, Shenzhen, China – ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of 5G technologies with Telefonica, one of the world’s largest operators. The partnership will strengthen ZTE’s position as a strategic technological partner for Telefonica.

Together with global standards bodies and industry groups, ZTE is driving and leading the development of 5G, from exploratory research and pre-standard field trials to standardization activities. Examples include massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and beam forming technologies, where ZTE is a recognised pioneer in the industry winning the Best Mobile Technology Breakthrough Award and Outstanding Overall Mobile Technology - The CTO’s Choice 2016 - for its Pre5G Massive MIMO technology at the Global Mobile Awards 2016.

The 5G MoU with Telefonica aims to draw on multiple resources from across the industry in order to facilitate 4G-to-5G evolution and create a virtuous circle for innovation. The agreement will enable more opportunities for cooperation across different industries in areas rich in potential such as advanced wireless communications, Internet of things, network virtualization architectures and cloud.

Enrique Blanco, CTO, Telefonica Group, says:

"Telefonica continues advancing in its role as a key player in the development of 5G technologies, where we have been actively contributing to relevant international projects, industry associations and standardisation bodies. We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with ZTE to cooperate on the next generation of mobile communications technology. 5G will have a massive impact on the telecommunication industry and on society as a whole. This is a process we are committed to and have already launched.”

Xu Huijun, CTO of ZTE, said:

"As the world's leading provider of ICT solutions, ZTE pioneers the field of 5G, which is at the heart of our core strategy. We believe that the application of this 5G MoU will help Telefonica leverage its performance as best carrier, and enable our customer to build a world-class network."